Carpet anchoring means

ABSTRACT

A plurality of pins are driven into a carpet retaining strip having one edge adjacent one wall of the building. The pins are driven at an angle downwardly away from the wall and the pointed lower end of each pin is clinched by a suitable machine into the bottom of the retaining strip. The lower end of each pin will be bent back toward the wall to clinch into the bottom of the strip. The upper end of each pin is pointed to penetrate the carpet to hold it in position and the pull of the carpet against each pin tends to increase the clinching action against the bottom of the strip.

United States Patent Handy [451 Sept. 26, 1972 [54] CARPET ANCHORI NG MEANS 72 Inventor: James w. Handy, Rte. 1, Box 799, Prim? Gay Benton Ark 7 5 Assistant Examiner-Dor1s L. Troutman Att -V t J. E d C 22 Filed: Dec. 10, 1969 or vans an o [21] Appl. No.: 883,742 [57] ABSTRACT A plurality of pins are driven into a carpet retaining [52] US. Cl ..16/16 strip having one edge adjacent one wall of the build- [51] Int. Cl. ..A47g 27/04 ing. The pins are driven at an angle downwardly away [58] Field of Search ..16/4-l 6; 85/ 14, from the wall and the pointed lower end of each pin is 3| clinched by a suitable machine into the bottom of the retaining strip. The lower end of each pin will be bent [56] References Cned back toward the wall to clinch into the bottom of the UNITED STATES PATENTS strip. The upper end of each pin is pointed to penetrate the carpet to hold it in position and the pull 2,806,243 9/1957 Maex. ..l6/l6 f the came, against each pin tends to increase the 3,494,006 2/1970 Brumllk ..85/14 clinching action against the bottom of the Strip 2,892,208 6/1959 Stock ..16/16 3,000,009 9/1961 Selstad ..85/14 1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figures CARPET ANCHORING MEANS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is the common practice to use easily penetrable flat retaining strips adjacent a wall and to provide such strips with upwardly projecting pins having pointed upper ends to penetrate wall to wall carpet to hold it firmly in position. These pins have their upper ends sloping at an angle toward the wall to prevent the pins extending into the carpet from slipping therefrom.

Attention is invited to the patent to S. J. Kent, et al., No. 2,821,714, granted Feb. 4, 1958. This patent shows atype of means of the character referred to for anchoring wall to wall carpet. In this patent the lower end of each pin is tapered to a point, and the tapering is at the side of each pin opposite the wall. The clinching of the pin takes place by being deflected away from the wall to be clinched into the bottom of the strip. Any pull, therefore, on the upper ends of the pins tends to pull the clinched point from the strip, and the pins become loose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A relatively easily penetrable strip for retaining the edge of the carpet adjacent the wall is formed usually of plywood and pins are driven into this strip downwardly at an angle to the vertical away from the wall and the upper end of each pin is left in a projecting position above the retaining strip to penetrate the carpet and hold it in position. The lower end of each pin is tapered to a point, and this taper is toward the side of each pin toward the wall. When the lower end of each pin is clinched, such lower point is bent toward the wall and clinched into the bottom of the retaining strip. Accordingly, any pull on the pins from the tension of the carpet tends to pull the upper ends of pins away from the wall, and this tends to cause the clinching action of each pin to increase rather than decrease so that the pins will be held relatively rigidly and will not be pulled loose.

I have found that for most efficient results, the upper and lower pointed ends of each pin are formed by tapering the ends at a 45 angle and the planes of the tapers are preferably parallel to each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan view of a portion of one of the retain ing strips;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a similar view through the .pins prior to clinching;

FIG. 4 is a similar view taken on line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of one of the. pins substantially enlarged;

FIG. 6 is a face view of the pin looking from the left in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a similar view looking from the right of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, inclusive, the numeral 10 designates a conventionalretaining strip for holding wall to wall carpet adjacent each wall of a room. This strip is made up of laminae 12, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3

and 4, to provide the strip with a proper degree of rigidity and to prevent it from warping. It will be understood that a laminated strip is preferable, but that any relatively easily penetrable material may be used in the formation of the strip. This strip preferably has one edge 14 tapered downwardly and away from the wall and the strip is usually spaced about V1 inch from the wall. This may be termed the rear edge of the strip, and the forward edge 16 may be cut perpendicular to the plane of the strip. This strip may be provided with fastening elements 18 (FIG. 1) for securing the strip to the floor.

The present invention utilizes a plurality of pins, each indicated as a whole by the numeral 20. These pins will be formed in the conventional way and driven through the retaining strip in any desired manner, and the upper and lower ends of the pins will be provided with points 22 and 24, respectively, formed by tapering the upper and lower ends of the pins as at 26 and 28, respectively. In practice it has been found that the tapered surfaces 26 and 28 should be made in parallel planes at 45 to the axes of the pins. Each of these pins is driven downwardly through the retaining strip preferably at an angle of 30 to the faces of the strip as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the upper ends of the pins will be left projecting above the top of the strip to engage the carpet at numerous points to hold it firmly against the wall. These pins may be driven in staggered lines, as shown in FIG. 1, to distribute the pull relative to the carpet and retaining strip.

Particular attention is invited to the fact that the lower taper 28 of each pin is downwardly and away from the rear edge 14, that is, away from the wall. A conventional clinching machine then applies a bending force to the lower ends of the pins and this results in the bending of the pin rearwardly toward the wall as at 30 to clinch the bottom of each pin into the bottom of the retaining strip. This is a highly important factor and distinguishesthe present construction from the prior patent referred to above.

OPERATION Strips 10 are fixed to the floor along each wall adjacent thereto. The pins 20 are driven by conventional means through each strip 10, and the lower ends of these pins are bent backwardly into the strips 10, as shown inFIG. 4. The upper ends of the pins are then cut off at an angle as at 26.

The points at the upper ends of the pins will penetrate the carpet which is laid on the strip, and the rug of course will be pulled relatively taut to lie per- .fectly flat on the floor. This subjects the upper ends of the pins to a certain degree of pull which tends to bend them away-from the wall. Such action will tend to increase the clinching action of the lower ends of the pins in the retaining strip, thus causing each-pin to be rigidly anchored relative to the strip. Wherev the clinching action. takes place awaytfromthe wall, as in the prior patent referred to, a pull on any pin, tending to move the upper end thereof to the left as viewed in FIG. 4, will result in loosening the clinching action of the pin relative to the strip, and thus thepins in time become loose and will not properly anchor the rug in position.

From the foregoing it will now be seen that there is herein provided an improved carpet anchoring means which accomplishes all of the objects of this invention and others, including many advantages of great practical utility and commercial importance.

As various embodiments may be made of this inventive concept, and as many modifications may be made in the embodiment hereinbefore shown and described, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted merely as illustrative, and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A rug anchoring assembly comprising a relatively easily penetrable flat strip having one edge adapted to be arranged adjacent a wall with its bottom surface against a floor surface, and a plurality of generally cylindrical pins driven downwardly through said strip at an angle inclined away from the wall, the lower end of said pin being bent toward the wall and clinched relative to the bottom of the strip, the upper end of said pin projecting above said strip toward said wall to engage the carpet to hold it adjacent the wall so that when the carpet is attached to the upper end of the strip and is pulled in a direction away from the wall force on the pin is such to cause the clinched end to bite deeper into the strip, strip lower end of said pin prior to being clinched being cut off on a taper sloping downwardly away from the wall whereby said pin terminates at its lower end in a point at the side of said pin remote from the wall. 

1. A rug anchoring assembly comprising a relatively easily penetrable flat strip having one edge adapted to be arranged adjacent a wall with its bottom surface against a floor surface, and a plurality of generally cylindrical pins driven downwardly through said strip at an angle inclined away from the wall, the lower end of said pin being bent toward the wall and clinched relative to the bottom of the strip, the upper end of said pin projecting above said strip toward said wall to engage the carpet to hold it adjacent the wall so that when the carpet is attached to the upper end of the strip and is pulled in a direction away from the wall force on the pin is such to cause the clinched end to bite deeper into the strip, strip lower end of said pin prior to being clinched being cut off on a taper sloping downwardly away from the wall whereby said pin terminates at its lower end in a point at the side of said pin remote from the wall. 